


The Stars Diminish in Your Presence

by excessive_book_disorder



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Cramps, Cuban Lance (Voltron), Dom - Freeform, F/M, Gender Dysphoria, Korean Keith (Voltron), M/M, Panic Attacks, Periods, Space Dad Shiro (Voltron), Space Mom Allura (Voltron), Space Uncle Coran (Voltron), Supportive Lance (Voltron), Trans Keith (Voltron)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-17
Updated: 2018-08-06
Packaged: 2019-05-24 17:18:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 8,843
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14958785
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/excessive_book_disorder/pseuds/excessive_book_disorder
Summary: The Team has been at it for a while and they are now back to the original five flying the lions again, but with new bonds forming between the paladins and alteans things can change rapidly. Keith is just happy to have his family back and is willing to maybe ignore his feelings for a certain paladin in order to keep his new family intact.





	1. So you found out?

**Author's Note:**

> Warning for mild panic attack

Chapter One

 

Keith couldn’t ignore the pain in his chest anymore. He had been training for hours now, and he wasn’t sure how long ago he had eaten last or for how long he had had his binder on. Ok, his breathing was becoming more stiff and uncomfortable as he kept on training, now he should probably go to his room put on a baggier jacket and take off his binder, but just as the thought entered his head the castles alarm went off so there was really no time. Wincing slightly he hurried off to the hangers and quickly got aboard Red.

_~Little one you are hurt, you shouldn’t be fighting. Interrupt the send-off and tell the blue one to come to fly me and the Princess to fly the blue lion cub.~_

Keith ignored the smothering of his lion. He was happy about being back, the blade had understood that his alliance to Voltron was important and that he really couldn’t be going in between missions but had acceded for him to continue having access to the database of the Blade so that he could try to find his mother, whoever she was. Something exploding got him off his train of thought. He looked up and saw that the apparent small treat was bigger than they had originally thought, so now they had to form Voltron. 

“Hey, Keith are you okay you seem distracted.” Lance’s voice broke through his mind. He seemed… concerned. Which was weird, was he acting that strange that even Lance noticed? Ok, the binder was really starting to hurt now. 

“Yeah, I’m fine.” He really wasn’t, but he could wait for the battle to end. That was a big fat lie, ok, and he could almost feel Shiro glaring him down about that comment. Shiro and Allura had been out in a conference with a planet from the alliance to start out more plans to re-stabilize the Universe now that Lotor was the emperor so he had probably deduced that he really hadn’t been taking care of himself too much during that time. Lucky for him the battle ended quickly. So they all drove off to the hangers, as he was getting out of the lion his vision started going blurry. His lungs started to burn and to be honest he really couldn’t breathe anymore. He really should’ve taken off his binder before he completely passed out. 

***  
When Keith woke up again the restriction against his chest was gone, he could breathe again. The second thing he noticed was that someone was holding his hand very carefully like he was made out of porcelain. Then there was a voice. 

“You really gave us a scare out there mullet.” Lance’s voice was a surprise, to say the least. He really either expected Shiro or Allura or even Coran to be the person holding his hand, how Lance fit into the equation he wasn’t really sure. Wait, if Lance was there and he couldn’t feel his binder anymore, did that mean that he knew…and if he knew how did he feel about it. Was he disgusted by him, now? Would he request that Keith is taken out of the team or would he start calling him names like the kids at the group home or…Just as his brain was going into overtime Lance’s voice broke through his thoughts again. 

“Hey, Shiro! He’s waking up. Hey there buddy it’s okay you’re fine” The soft affirmation didn’t really do much but the fact that Lance wasn’t saying anything mean was a good sign. His panic attack didn’t stop though and his eyes shot open just as he started hyperventilating. “Quiznaks, you’re having a panic attack, dam where’s Shiro. Ok...um, I’m going to try something my mom use to do when I got nervous, here goes nothing.” Any other time Lance’s ramblings would have made him smile but not right now. If Lance knew did that mean that everyone else did too? Before he could really go down that train of thought Lance started singing. 

_“Nos dimos todo lo que se nos dio_  
_Nos dimos todo eso y mucho más_  
_Para después reconocernos otra vez_  
_Brillas y brillas tan lindo_  
_Y brillamos juntos entre pestañas_  
_Divina, divina sonrisa_  
_Abrazo de luna, de luna llena_  
_Y así, juntitos los dos_  
_Y así, lo que se nos dio_  
_Y así, juntitos los dos_  
_Y así, lo que se nos da”_

After that Lance just kinda started to hum softly to the tune of the song while rubbing Keith's back as he held the smaller boy. Keith ready didn’t really know when he had stopped hyperventilating or how he had gone from laying down on the bed to being in Lance’s arms but he really didn’t care enough to find out. He rested his head against the Cuban boy’s shoulder and relaxed against it.

“Mi tesoro no sabes cuánto me asustaste. Mírate todo tembloroso y llorando mi pobrecito amor no te preocupes yo no pienso nada diferente de ti mi estrella.” Lance’s voice was truly magic. He didn’t know what the other boy was saying but he didn’t care. He felt comfortable.

“I see you’re awake now Keith” Shiro’s voice broke the bonding moment that he and Lance were having. He turned around so that now he and Lance were only half hugging and he blushed at the teasing look that his adoptive brother had dancing on his lips. He had had a minor, okay huge, crush on Lance ever since they had joined Voltron and he had really gotten to know the blue paladin he had fallen head over heels in love with Lance and Shiro loved to tease him about it. 

“What happened Takashi?” He asked his voice clean and bland and without emotions. 

“You fainted in your hanger and Red alerted Lance through their still existing bond and we went to get you.” His look was very disappointed and he was in full on Space Dad mode as Pidge liked to call it. “Hey, Lance? Could you leave us a bit I need to talk to Keith.” Lance and nodded reluctantly before leaving the room. “You really scared us back there. I told you to take care of yourself better this time, you can’t stop taking care of yourself every time I go away in some business with Allura and Matt. For how long had you had your binder on yesterday?”  
“I don’t know, um when did you leave?”

“Two days ago, Keith don’t tell me….”

“Um...Maybe.”

“Keith we’ve talked about this you can only use it for less than 8 hours like the doctor said. You were extremely dehydrated when we got to you and the binder isn't helping matters. Really, Keith, you need to take better care of yourself.”

“I will, I promise. Okay, It’s not as though you can stay behind and babysit me.” 

“No, I can’t. But I can get someone to babysit you.”

“No, Shiro…”

“Yes, I can. We’re leaving again Later and we’ll be gone for about a week and I can’t risk it again. So I’m leaving Lance in charge of you now that he knows. Oh and you are not allowed to put on your binder for 3 days you understand?”

“Yes, Shiro.”

“Good” The Japanese man answered. “Okay, I need to and start planning out everything out so I’m going to have to go now. Take better care of yourself.” And so his older brother left probably to kiss Allura or something. He really didn’t want Lance to babysit him, he didn’t even know how he felt about the whole trans thing. There was a knock at the door and Keith looked up. Talking about the king of Rome, there stood Lance. The unrealistically perfect looking guy, smiling.

“Hey, there guapo.” Lance said and Keith knew they were about to have the talk.


	2. What do you mean by that?

Chapter Two

 

Keith really didn’t like having “The Talk” but it was something that is always necessary. He remembered when he had come out to Shiro, he had been 15 and Shiro had just recently finished up adopting him. Life in the group homes had been rough and finding out you felt more like a boy than a girl was not something that you just said. Shiro hadn’t really been surprised and had been really accepting and the very next day they had gone to a specialist to start out the whole process. Shiro had accompanied him to get his first binder, and Shiro was the one to help him with his first T shot. Shiro had been the best person ever throughout the whole process. He really hadn’t noticed that he had been lost in his thought until Lance’s voice broke him out of his trance. 

“Hey there Tesoro, are you alright? Hey, earth to mullet.” Lance had moved from his place on the doorway and was now sitting in front of him on the bed. His blue ocean eyes bore into him with a kind of caring look that made his heart flutter. To be honest, he wasn’t sure why he was so nervous in the first place, and yet he was. Extremely so if he had to be honest.

“Yeah, I’m fine... So, I guess you kinda know now.” 

“Yeah I kinda found out, I was the one that brought you all the way up to your room actually. And I was the one that suggested you don’t go into the pod in case it somehow tampered with your treatment.” Lance said all of this really quickly as his cheeks started to redden, he seemed extremely nervous for some reason. “And…” Lance didn’t have a chance to continue rambling because Keith cut him off.

“It's fine Lance, I understand if you don’t wanna be friends anymore I get it, you don’t have to…” 

“Hey, don’t do that, of course, I still wanna be friends with you. Why wouldn’t I want to be? I mean this doesn’t change anything about you. Look at you. You’re still you, and you could still kick my ass any and every day if you wanted to. Tu eres tan hermoso y fuerte y esto nada mas te hace aun mas fuerte.” Lance’s speech was kinda moving, Keith had been so worried over nothing. Of course, Lance didn't care. He was well, Lance, and Lance was anything but not understanding. 

“Thanks that...that actually means a lot to me.”

“Now that that’s out of the way. I have been given a very important task over the next week or so. You see your brother and the princess will be leaving in a few minutes and Shiro has left me in charge of taking care of you. So while they are gone I will be your personal babysitter.” Lance’s smile was so impossibly wide and childish that Keith couldn’t help but smile, even if it was just a little. He really didn’t like the babysitting part, but the fact that it was Lance that was looking after him was just about the only plus side. “Now we should probably set some rules down like you know, privacy and stuff.”

“Okay, we should do that.”

“Um you can come into my room whenever you like, but like please knock first. Other than that I don't really know.” 

“Ok, so um, I think that the same rule should apply to my bedroom. Other than that I’m adding just two rules. One please don’t tell the others that I’m trans. I’ll tell them eventually but, in my own time. Second, um just please if I tell you that I need space just please respect it.” The last rule was said in a more questioning tone, Keith’s eyes searching for anything other than understanding. 

“Yeah, that's totally cool.” Lance’s smile was too easy going. “Oh and by the way you can’t really train while you’re resting from using the binder just so that your muscles are as relaxed as they can possibly be, but we can totally just stay here and relax and maybe read some stuff.”

“You’re taking this new role very seriously aren’t you?” Keith’s tone was playful and a smirk was gracing his features. 

“Yes, I am. You Really gave us a sacred back there Tesoro and I don’t want it to happen again anytime soon.” Lance’s voice had lost all traces of amusement or playfulness which made Keith look up. Apparently, him passing out had really upset the Cuban boy and for some reason knowing that made his stomach flutter and it also made him feel, warm inside. Stupid gigantic, crush, and there it was that word. Lance had been calling him that over the last few weeks. 

“You keep calling me that.”

“What?”

“The word with a ‘t’. Tesoro I think. What does it mean?” He was truly curious. Lance had never called anyone that not even the aliens with which he flirted with from time to time. It was somehow special and it made his stomach fill with even more butterflies than usual when looking at Lance.

“Um, it's just a nickname I guess.” Keith was surprised at the other boy's nervousness. Lance was normally the face of calmness and always seemed laid back one way or another, but now he was blushing and Keith could see him fidgeting with his shirt. 

“Yeah, but you only call me that.”

“Yeah well, it's your special nickname.”

“Yeah well um, it's just really nonsense. Um, I gotta go. It was good talking.” Lance then promptly ran away through the open door. Keith understood that the word was some kind of nickname but he didn’t know why the meaning of it made Lance so nervous. It was obviously in Spanish and Keith didn’t really speak Spanish so he didn’t understand it. He really wanted to know what it meant. So he went to the only person on the ship who could possibly translate the word for him, Pidge. 

***  
“Okay, so you want me to translate this because you heard it and were curious?” Pidge’s tone was extremely skeptical as she looked at the red paladin and Keith really didn’t want to explain his reasoning to her. 

“Yeah, I’m just...curious.” 

“Okay that sounds fake but sure I can translate it. I just need the word again and the language that it’s in.”

“Its um Tesoro, spelled _T-e-s-o-r-o_. I’m pretty sure it’s in Spanish.” The green paladin nodded and typed some stuff up in her computer and then there was a little bing! Like sound which Keith assumed was that the computer had gotten a result. 

“It apparently means, _affectionate expression used with people of importance to someone, usually used in between couples and or close family members_. Where did you hear it, Keith?”

“I saw it in some random book and it didn't have a translation so I was just curious. Okay, thanks, pigeon I um gotta go check up on some stuff.” Keith stated stammering through the sentence and quickly got out of the room. Why was Lance, _Lance_ , of all people call him by that nickname? It seemed personal and almost, intimate. Lance had started calling him that since Keith had almost killed himself trying to break through the Galra space field, and since then he really hadn’t flirted with any of the pretty aliens that they had seen on their missions. Why all of the sudden had Lance’s behavior changed so drastically to the point that most of his defining playfulness was lost. The nickname was probably just a coincidence, it probably meant nothing at all, because Lance couldn’t possibly like him in any way other than in a friendly manner, right?


	3. Sharpshooter makes an entrance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This has a very minor sexual crisis reference.

Chapter Three

 

Lance had always prided himself in knowing exactly what he wanted, but now he had come to know that it wasn’t all correct. All his life he had been enamored by romance, be it in a book or in a movie if it had some romantic subplot he enjoyed it and growing up he had always dreamt of finding _“the one”_. But now he wasn’t sure if the what he imagined _“the one”_ to be and what they were turning out to be really matched up. 

As a young boy in Cuba he had always imagined his other half as a gorgeous, tall, blonde, blue-eyed beauty from Europe or something, but the universe had very different plans for his future. When he had joined the Garrison and had first met Keith the Korean boy he had a weird thing that attracted him to the other boy so when the other boy didn’t even notice him he got slightly mad. This was what had made Keith his enemy. At the time he just thought it was a simple schoolyard rivalry, but the other boy had dropped out Lance for some reason missed him. 

Over the months in which Keith had been missing from his life, Lance had felt as though something had been missing. He thought that he was simply missing Cuba, la playa, his mama, his papa and all of his siblings, but then after finding the Blue Lion things started getting difficult for him to figure out. 

Before when he thought of a future he dreamt of a future _“Mrs.McClain”_ he had always imagined a chica en el bikini azul running around with their kids in Cuba, her face was always blurry, no specific features except for the long blonde hair, but a few weeks after they had joined Voltron and he had really gotten to know Keith the dream had changed, drastically so. 

One night, a few nights after the cradling incident the dream changed, now instead of a _“Mrs.Blue Lion”_ in a blue bikini there as a _“Mr.Blue Lion.”_ with blue swimming short and a very nice six pack. Unlike his predecessor, this new character had very defined features. He had deep purple eyes, dark medium length black hair, and at first, he didn’t recognize the other boy, but then he recognized that damn mullet. He had been imagining his future significant other as Keith, _Keith_ , of all people. This had freaked him out, big time.

Lance had always considered himself straight. He hadn’t questioned it. Never. So when he figured out that he had been imagining the future _“Mr. Blue Lion”_ as Keith he started to freak out. He had his sexual crisis which he had covered up by over flirting with the aliens' girls that they encountered on their travels and by having a major “crush” on Allura. 

The mice had obviously found out and had quickly told the Princess of why he was faking a crush on her and Allura had somehow become his confidant. The beautiful Altean had seemed very excited that there was a possibility that two of the paladins could get together, but before Lance could do anything about his crush again Keith decided to go off and join some Galran league of assassins type club to find his mother.

During the time in which they had had minimal contact with Keith he had again felt that same thing missing as he did the last time that the Korean boy had gone missing, but now he knew to identify it as him actually missing the other boy, but he didn’t let that distract him from his work. 

When Keith had finally re-joined Voltron, Lance was so over the moon that when the Korean boy had walked out of the space shuttle he had hugged him like his life depended on it. _His_ Keith was back, but the only problem was that the other boy wasn’t even his, yet. After the future _“Mr.Blue Lion”_ (or be it he becoming _“Mr.Red Lion”_ or they could always hyphen it to _“Mr.Blue-Red Lion”_ that thought was a problem for later) had come back from his mission Allura and him had gotten to work. They had developed a foolproof plan to conquer the very hot, very oblivious Korean boy. 

The plan progressed slowly and the first part was easy, tell Shiro. The older Japanese man was an important part of his intended and if he by any mean wanted to date the other boy at all Shiro also had to know of his intentions. After he had told the black paladin he had endured a very long and at some points scary, a conversation in which he had to convince the older man that he would never do this as a joke not to Keith, not to anyone. 

The second step was even easier, he had to stop flirting with the aliens they met while on missions. This made the rest of the team suspicious but he really didn't care. He had also started dropping clues and hints to the shorter boy but he had quickly found out that subtleness didn’t work with Keith so he had started being less, and less subtle to the point that everyone on the team knew, except of course the red paladin. 

He had even given Keith a special nickname just for him, _Tesoro_. It was the nickname that his father had called his mother and when he was a child he had decided that he would call no one else that except for the person that he would marry. SO when one day he had gotten the biggest urge to call Keith that, he just knew. He was on his way to full-on kissing Keith to make him understand that he wanted to get together with him when the other boy had fainted in the Hangers. The only reason that he had found out was that he still had a very faint link with Red and she had informed him. 

When he finally arrived at the Hanger the sight that greeted him had almost broken his heart. There, lying unconscious in front of his lion was Keith. He looked too small and broken, Lance never wanted to see his fellow paladin like that again. 

He had acted on impulse, scooting up the boy in his arms carrying him bridal style to the other boy’s room, all the while telling Coran, Allura and Shiro to meet him there. When he had finally arrived to the room he firstly laid Keith on his bed. That’s when he had finally noticed that the adults seemed to know exactly what was happening. 

“What happened? And don’t lie to me I can clearly see that you know almost exactly what's going on.” His tone had been demanding and desperate, he was really scared. The other adults had looked nervous when Allura spoke up first. She had explained to him how Keith was actually transgender, and Keith being Keith had probably forgotten to take off his binder or even eat while Shiro hadn’t been aboard the castle to remind him. 

He had been shocked at first, and he certainly had to re-think some parts of his plan but this new information certainly did not change a thing. Keith was still Keith. Coran had quickly suggested that the put his intended into a pod but Lance had quickly interjected that they had no possible way of knowing how the pod could affect Keith’s hormones, especially since he was on T. The other had also agreed and so they decide to let the boy heal on his own. So they set out to work, Lance had stepped out of the room when Coran started healing Keith to give them some privacy.

So that’s how he found himself in this messy situation. He was going to have to babysit the love of his life for at least a week, but that wasn’t really the problem. The problem was that Keith had finally asked what tesoro meant, and more importantly why Lance kept calling him that. Lance was by no means stupid, he knew the Korean boy would notice eventually but he had hoped it would be later. He really needed to get his shit together, especially since he knew Keith would find a way of deciphering out what his nickname meant.


	4. Mullet makes a come back

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Warning for deadnameing and a mild panic attack.

Chapter Four

 

The first two days that Keith was being babysitted by Lance weren’t bad. They had mostly just hung out and read together, Pidge had found some old Altean YA type novels on the archives which she had kindly translated into English for all of them. They mostly laid around together be it in the break room or in one of their rooms. Lance had also made sure that he ate, three meals a day, at the exact same time. They went almost everywhere together, and the two other paladins had started to notice and everytime that they saw them in a room together they would have a knowing smile. That smile always made Keith blushed for some reason. 

 

Keith had also yet to confront Lance about the  _ t-word  _ as he’d come to call it. He had had many chances to do so during the last two days and yet had been a coward about it. He knew he had to confront the other boy about it at some point, but he liked this new dynamic that they had fallen into over the last two days. He really wants things to keep going the way they were. So he knew that something or someone was going to come and ruin it. Something always ruined the good things in his life. 

 

It came on the second night, in the form of a nightmare. Normally when he had nightmares he would wake up and if it wasn't one of the bad ones then he just went back to sleep. If the nightmare was exceptionally bad he would find his way to Allura’s room and crawl into the bed in between Space mom and dad. At first, when Shiro had started sleeping in the Altean’s bed the process had been awkward, but after lots and lots of reassurance from the Princess and Shiro he had come to accept it. Tonight it was one of the exceedingly bad ones. 

 

* _ Dream Description* _

 

This dream had been a recurring one ever since he had started his transition, but over the years since it had first appeared, it had evolved. The first time he had it it was only Shiro and his Dad, they were laughing at him, deadnaming him and worst of all telling him that  _ she  _ was not worth saving. Since he had joined Voltron the dream had come to include the rest of the team, but tonight it changed yet again. Now the dream focused on just Lance, he was standing in front of him, looking directly at him with a face full of disgust and anger, but his words hurt the most out of all the other he was hearing.  _ “Look at you. Why would I ever love you, you disgust me. Look at you, K-” _

 

* _ End of Dream Description _ *

And so he woke up, he didn’t hear the rest of the sentence. He sat up and started crying. To be honest, this version of the dream scared him more than the other versions, he didn’t quite know why but it did. He knew he needed someone to comfort him, and with the Space Parents gone there was just one last viable option for comforting him, Lance. He needed reassurance that the people around him still wanted him. So he grabbed his purple stuffed hippo and made his way to the Cuban boy’s room. He knocked rather loudly, his panic started to increase when there was no answer but then the door opened. There stood Lance, in all his beauty mask glory. He was groggily rubbing his eyes and then he looked down. His expression grew worried and almost...panicky. 

 

“Hey, there tesoro. Are you okay? Are you hurt?” His voice seemed confused and he looked around the hallway to look for any unseen danger. 

 

“I...I...I h..ad a nightmare and I couldn't sleep, and normally when that happens I...I go to Sh...Shiro and he’s not here and…” Keith’s stuttering was getting worse as his panicky mode got worse, he was still crying and he really wanted to sleep. His hippo was still firmly lodged between his arms. “You k...now what it's fine I...ll just go and l..l...let you sleep…” He was now crying even harder when Lance suddenly grabs him by the shoulders. 

 

“Hey, hey tesoro it’s fine come in, come on. I’m going to lift you up now and carry you to my bed is that okay tesoro.” Keith nodded and before he could do anything else Lance was scoping him up and carrying him to their destination. His panic attack didn’t stop though, he was too far gone. His hyperventilating, his breathing ragged and the boy of his dreams was holding him close. When they had finally arrived at the bed Lance laid them down, side by side, spooning, the Cuban boy caressing Keith’s arm. Keith’s hyperventilating didn’t stop. “I'm going to try what I did last time, okay tesoro. Let’s hope it works.” His voice was soft, caring, then he started singing.  

 

“ _ Qué tengo aquí, qué lindo es _

_ Es un tesoro que descubrí _

_ Es muy simple decir, que no hay más que pedir _

 

_ Qué es lo que ves, a tu alrededor _

_ Tanta abundancia, tanto esplendor _

_ Me hace pensar que yo "no necesito más" _

_ Regalitos así tengo miles _

_ Aunque a veces no sepa que son _

_ ¿Quieres un no-sé-ma-bobs? Tengo veinte _

_ Pero yo, en verdad quiero más _

 

_ Yo quiero ver algo especial _

_ Yo quiero ver una bella danza _

_ Y caminar con los ¿cómo se llaman? _

_ Ah pies _

 

_ Sólo nadar no es original _

_ Por qué no tener un par de piernas _

_ Y salir a pasear _

_ ¿Como dicen? _

_ ¡A pie! _

 

_ Y poder ir, a descubrir _

_ Qué siento al estar ante el sol _

_ No tiene fin _

_ Quiero saber _

_ Más mucho más _

 

_ Qué debo dar _

_ Para vivir, fuera del agua _

_ Qué hay que pagar _

_ Para un día, completo estar _

_ Pienso que allá lo entenderán _

_ Puesto que, no prohíben nada _

_ ¿Por qué habrían de impedirme ir a jugar? _

 

_ A estudiar que hay, por saber _

_ Con mis preguntas y sus respuestas _

_ ¿Qué es fuego? _

_ ¿Qué es quemar? _

_ Lo podré ver _

 

_ Cuándo me iré _

_ Quiero explorar _

_ Sin importarme cuándo volver _

 

_ El exterior _

_ Quiero formar _

_ Parte de él”  _

 

His voice was soft caring and beautiful. This boy was going to make his heart explode. Their hands were now intertwined, the last notes of the song echoing throughout the room resonating with emotion, and with those last notes Keith fell asleep. 

 

***

Lance had officially found his new favorite view in the whole universe, Keith sleeping next to him. His face was calm and even more beautiful when he slept. It was utterly amazing. Last night when he had woken up to his tesoro knocking at his door having a serious panic attack he felt surprised. Shiro had warned him about nightmares, about how Keith had them once in a while and that he would go get comforted by the closest person that he could find. 

 

Apparently,  _ he  _ was the person that Keith had chosen to replace Shiro with and he couldn’t be any happier. His soulmate had chosen _ him _ and when Keith’s hyperventilating didn’t stop he did the only thing that he could possibly think of, he started singing. The only voice that came to mind though was  _ “Part of Your World”  _  from the Little Mermaid, a  _ Disney  _ song for god’s sake. He was trying to calm down his intended and the only song that he could come up with was a freaking  _ Disney song.  _

 

That didn’t matter though, waking up with Keith cuddled up to him like a little kitten hugging a hippo stuffed animal made all of his embarrassment fade away. To be quite honest he wanted to wake up to this view any and every day for the rest of his life. The shorter boy was breathing softly, his hair more messed up than usual, but the moment wasn’t meant to last forever.

 

“Hey, loser, you’re...” Pidges words died in her throat as she saw that the blue paladin wasn't alone in the bed. Her eyes got impossibly wide and she blushed lightly at the scene. “Oh, um sorry to interrupt, I was just gonna tell you that you were late for breakfast but take your time lover boy.” And with that said the gremlin went away. Lance groaned, he was never going to leave this down.             

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The song is the Spanish version of _"Part of Your World"_ from the little mermaid.


	5. Pigeon and Cheff Deluxe Make an entrance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Warnings for this episode:  
> The period tag comes into play making it Shark week  
> Body dysphoria

Chapter Five

 

Keith woke up with a different pillow than the one that he had gone to sleep with. The pillow that he had fallen asleep on had a sterile and clean laundry smell while the one that he was currently using had a breezy and ocean-y smell to it. He snuggled closer to it wanting to get more comfortable, and that’s when he finally noticed the arm that was lightly wrapped around him, and so he looked up. Lance looked even prettier when he was asleep, his wrinkles disappear and even with his mask he looked ethereal. Wait, Lance? What was Lance doing in Keith’s bed, when had he gotten there? Then Keith had started to look around and noticed the blue theme the room had going for it and realized that he was the one sleeping in a different bed. So how had he gotten there? Oh, right he had had a nightmare, it had been one of the bad ones so he had sought out Lance. He remembered a son and strong arms wrapped around him. The memory made him smile.    

 

Keith tried to guess the time but he guessed it was already past breakfast, he had heard someone come in earlier, he guessed it was to tell them that they were late for breakfast. The question was if someone had indeed come in then why hadn’t Lance woken him up? He didn’t really care though because this new pillow was extremely and utterly comfortable.     

 

***

After the Pigeon had knocked on the door he had fallen asleep again not wanting to disturb Keith’s sleep, but now he really couldn’t ignore his hunger. Keith was, as far as he could tell, extremely comfortable. Lance got up slowly, and when he was finally out of his gatito’s grasp he stood up, stretched and looked back at the beautiful illusion that was on his bed. Keith looked the most peaceful that he had ever seen him, but then he noticed the blood. It was barely even noticeable but he knew what it meant, he had had sisters. He sighed, he really didn’t want to wake Keith up when he looked so cute, but he preferred doing that than having Keith be in any discomfort. 

 

So he set out to get everything ready so that when he really had to do everything he could so that when he did wake Keith up he could get as comfortable as he could. He firstly called Coran and after explaining the situation he asked him pretty please if he could get clothes and supplies from the red paladin’s room for him. He also requested that COran put Keith’s sweats into their super cool alien dryer so that they would be warm. After he was done with that face call he quickly went to his personal bathroom and started running the bath, he even got out some of his bath salts and rose petals, he was not forgetting anything when it came to making sure that Keith was as comfortable as possible.     

 

After Coran had dropped by and given him all that he had asked for in a neat pile, that he put in the bathroom on top of an easily accessible counter next to the towel, there was no more delaying it. He approached the figure on the bed and shook him lightly. “Hey, Tesoro, can you wake up for me please?” The other paladin just groaned which made the Cuban boy smile. “Come on Tesoro I need you to wake up.” And after a little bit more shaking and bargaining with the red paladin, the shorter boy woke up. 

 

“Wha...what is it?” His voice was groggy and it was the cutes and at the same time hottest thing he had ever heard in his life. He hoped he got to hear it again. 

 

“Hey there handsome, come on let's get you into the bathroom and get you off of these clothes.” His voice was soft and caring to make sure that Keith didn’t get startled. The other boy seemed to think over his words and then he looked down and comprehension dawned on his face. He looked embarrassed and was about to open his mouth to probably apologized or to start saying something to put himself down but Lance didn’t let him. “Come on there’s nothing to be embarrassed about, let’s get you to the bathroom and comfortable.” 

 

“But...but I ruined your sheets.” His Tesoro’s voice was trembling, as if he was going to cry, he had to do something. He did something rash. He took Keith's face into his hands and kissed his slightly on the lips. 

 

“You should not be embarrassed over something that you cannot control. I want you to understand that I am not at all mad. The sheets can be washed and that would be the end of it. Capisce?” His tone left no room for argument so Keith just nodded his face held a startled look and he made his way into the bathroom. Now Lance really needed to rethink his whole  _ “How to make the cute Korean boy that piloted one of the five alien cat robots with him realize that Lance liked him.”   _

 

***    

 

Pidge and Hunk had been waiting for Lance and Keith to get together since Lance had started to whine about his “mortal enemy” while at the Garrison. During their time at the garrison, there were days where the other two-thirds of the Garrison trio wished that Lance would just shut up about the Korean boy and kiss him or ask him out. When Keith had dropped out they had hoped that Lance would stop talking about the shorter boy. That didn’t happen.

 

Since the boy had gone away Lance’s remarks and whinings about the shorter boy had multiplied tenfold. If Lance’s constant complaining about the boy had been annoying now they really didn’t know what to call it. He was moppy, sad, whiny and in a constant state of missing Keith. Lance had stated on multiple occasions that the only reason that he missed Keith at all was that of their rivalry, Pidge and Hunk knew better. Pidge and Hunk knew that Lance had an enormous crush on Keith, everyone at the garrison could see it. 

 

When the three of them had helped Keith rescue, Shiro, all of those emotions had come crashing back to Lance. Over the first month of them being a part of Voltron, they both saw how Lance, finally, finally, realized that he had a ginormous crush on the new red paladin. Over the months in which they worked together with their bonds as paladins had gotten stronger as a team, but even Shiro had noticed that the bond that existed between the blue and the red lion was stronger than all of the other ones. The rest of the team smiled and waited on the sidelines hoping that the Korean boy would stop being so oblivious and just appreciate the Cuban boy’s feelings. That had started almost two years ago when they had all joined with their Lions. 

 

Over their months together the three remaining paladins had tried to get them together. They had paired them up together for missions and had tried to give them every and any opportunity for them to be able to get together. When Keith had become the black paladin and the red lion had chosen Lance as the replacement, as Keith’s right-hand man, Pidge and Hunk were totally convinced that they were meant to be together. It seemed definitive. The only thing left for them to do was to watch, wait, and push them once in a while on the right direction. 

 

*** 

 

When Lance was once again late for breakfast it wasn’t really a surprise, it was Pidge’s turn to go and wake him up. She knew that Lance was  _ “babysitting”  _  Keith so she was slightly disappointed that he had not taken all of his responsibilities on as seriously. She didn’t even bother knocking on the door and regretted it immediately the words that she was about to say dying in her throat. On the blue bed where there was normally only one lump most morning, there were now two. One had raven hair the other one was Lance. She blushed and mad a quick excuse running out of the room. SHe felt triumph rising in her chest. Hunk was going to love this.

 

*** 

 

Keith didn’t know what he had done to get a...yet to be determined person like this. He really didn’t know where their relationship stood at the moment, after that small kiss. He had always pictured his first kiss as something that he was going to expect or something he could’ve seen coming. It was the complete opposite of them. He had been on the edge of a panic attack and that small diminutive kiss had brought him out of his stupor. His dad had been a romantic and Shiro even more so, so even though he put out an “emo” exterior as Lance liked to call if he had always been a romantic. 

 

Shark week was always the worst, even more so after he had started really transitioning. Sure the flow had gotten significantly smaller in quantity since his start with the T it was still there and it still bothered him. When shark week came around every month it made him feel extremely unmanly and he really dreaded that one single week. The start of the week was forgotten though when he remembered the way that Lance had acted towards it, in an almost, understanding manner. He looked at the pile of clothes and shark week weapons that were laid out for him and frowned slightly. Sure the clothes were all some of his comfiest and loser clothes and they had included one of his sweatshirts, but he suddenly got an idea.

 

He quickly and carefully got out of the bathtub and went to change, the only thing that he did not put on was the sweatshirt. He looked at himself in the mirror and grabbing a brush that was neatly put on the counter and started doing his hair. When he had made sure that he looked as good as he could be called out. “Lance?” His voice was soft and it sounded more like a question rather than a petition. 

 

The taller boy popped his head into the bathroom and gave him one of his signature smirks which now made him blush. “Yes, Tesoro? Is everything alright.” This boy was going to be the death of him. 

 

“Um could...I maybe exchange this sweatshirt for...one...of...yours….?” His voice was very quiet and would have been lost if not for how quiet the bathroom was. For a moment Keith got really scared because Lance seemed frozen, but then his smirk changed into an impossibly wide smile that made his heart flutter and the butterflies wake up in his stomach. He cursed both of those feelings and his increased blush. 

 

“Yes! Absolutely.” The blue paladin got out of the bathroom and came back quickly with a large blue, worn sweater. The Cuban boy handed him the sweater and when Keith got it he couldn’t help but smile, it smelt like  _ his  _ blue paladin. 

 

“Thank you!” 

 

“No, problem Tesoro.” Lance quickly got out and left him to finish getting ready. Keith put the sweatshirt on and frowned, why did everyone had to be so tall. The article of clothing got all the way down to the middle of his thighs, the sleeves going way past his hands. He took one final breath and stepped out of the shower. 

 

“Hey Lance, I think that we need to… um, talk.”   


	6. The 'Talk' Makes an Entrance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dun,dun,dun.
> 
> I'm also extremely sorry about the delay by the way.

Chapter Six

 

Lance had seen the talk coming from a mile away, it was inevitable. He had been the one to take the first intentional step and so he shouldn’t feel surprised, but the anxiety that came with it was still there. He had kissed Keith for goodness sake and it had been the most amazing feeling in the entire galaxy. His lips had been soft and sweet and nothing else in the entire universe could ever compare to that five-second feeling. His  _ “How to make the cute Korean boy that piloted one of the five alien cat robots with him realize that Lance liked him.”  _ plan now had to change to fit a faster approaching agenda. The talk would certainly change things and he really didn't want to get his hopes up. 

 

Lance’s train of thought was interrupted though when the bathroom door opened to reveal the most breathtaking sight that he had ever experienced. There, leaning against the doorway, stood Keith wearing his blue sweater. The sweater that his  _ abuelita  _ had made for him before he left for the Garrison, one that he barely wore scared to ruin it. Yet there stood Keith looking even more beautiful than ever wearing his sweater. 

 

“Hey Lance, I think that we need to… um, talk.” His voice was nervous which made Lance frown. Why was Keith, one of the most confident people he knew, suddenly anxious around him? He was fidgeting and couldn’t seem to make himself look at Lance in the eyes. Noticing this fully he made another rash decision, taking Keith’s hand and he pulled at the shorter boy, sitting him down in a way they could both look at each other in the eyes. 

 

“What about Tesoro?” 

 

“Well, firstly, why do you keep calling me that?” His breathing was fast and his eyes were steely; not letting any emotion shine through those purple pools. “I asked Pidge to translate it for me and she said it was supposed to be a term for a person's significant other. So why would you call me that? Me, boring old Keith.” 

 

“Tesoro, look at me, mi amor. I call you that because you’ve earned it. You are such a wonderful, kind, honest brave person that anyone that meets you truly can’t help but start care for you. You put up this extremely hard, and bad-boy persona to keep people from getting to know you and you try your hardest to keep everyone at arm's reach from you, but yet I don’t want you to do that with me. You know when I was a child my father used to always call my mother this one nickname and I promised myself that I would only use it with someone truly special. It was a kind of thing that you do when you’re a child and are obsessed with fairy tales and what not.” His voice had taken on a dreamy tone to it. The person in front of her having started blushed quite a while ago. “Do you know what the nickname was?” The shorter boy shook his head to answer no, a blushed gracing his cheeks. Lance took his hands and smiled at their warmth. “He used to call her  _ Tesoro  _ because she was a treasure to him.” 

  
  


***

 

Keith tensed up, so that’s where the nickname had come from. The story had made the nickname even more personal than he had initially thought it was, it made it more _sentimental_. Why had Lance chosen _him_ to gift with such a nickname with all of that history? This term was kind of like the term that he had heard his dad use when talking about his mom,  여보, _Darling_. If he really thought about it he had hoped for the same thing that Lace had sworn to do so many years ago. His train was interrupted when Lance started talking again. 

 

“I know that the decision to kiss you was rash and that maybe it made you feel uncomfortable. And that maybe I’m not good enough for-” But Lance wasn’t able to finish speaking, a pair of lips swallowing his next words. This kiss was different from the other one, it was firmer and in some was with more power behind it, and Keith was in heaven. Nothing else seemed to matter, the only thing that was real was him and his paladin. The kiss stopped, they were both breathless, their breathing irregular after that glorious kiss. “No one can resist my charm.”

 

“Lance.”

 

“It’s true!” And in spite of himself, Keith smiled, here was this amazingly hot guy ruining the moment. Yet that didn’t seem to matter because it was Lance, it was  _ his  _ hot guy ruining the moment.

 

“So the culmination of  _ ‘The Talk’  _ would be. What are we?” Keith was nervous, extremely so if he was being completely honest. They were both parts of something bigger than themselves, and if they messed up whatever they had going on it could break up the team. 

 

“What do you want us to be?”  

 

And the answer hung in the air, making the room feel smaller than it actually was. 

 

***

 

Hunk was about to go get Keith and Lance for lunch when they both walked in, holding hands. This was something that everyone had seen coming from a mile away, except for the two boys in question who seemed to be the epitome of obviousness. Even Pidge, who always seemed to be preoccupied with her new technology, noticed the tension the moment that they had seen Keith rescuing Shiro. A few weeks after joining the team even the two Alteans started to notice. Shiro had already known about the crush from the time in which Keith and Lance had been at the Garrison. So this new development should not have been at all surprising, but the suddenness made it so. 

 

Keith was blushing,  _ Keith _ for crying out loud, and Lance had the silliest most love-stricken smile that Hunk had ever seen. Pidge and Coran were too as surprised as Hunk himself felt, they seemed too cute to be real. As they approached the table Lance pulled out a chair for Keith, Keith blushed and as Lance sat down next to him the interlaced their fingers together. The two paladins didn’t seem to notice them, almost as though they were in their own little bubble, so the rest of the team just stared at them until the Cuban boy finally noticed and cleared his throat. 

 

“What are you guys staring at?” His voice was calm and concentrated. It was also missing the slight note of nervousness that it had held over the past couple weeks. 

 

“Dude” Hunk's response, while not eloquent, expressed perfectly the what the green paladin and the Altean counselear were feeling at the moment. They didn’t really know what to make of the situation, especially after what pidge had told them happened that morning when she had gone to check on them. The tension around the room seemed palatable. 

 

“I believe that what No. 2 was trying to ask is the reason behind you and No. 4 holding hands my dear No. 3.” The older Altean seemed excited about the awnser which didn’t really surprised anyone. To be quite honest even Pidge seemed excited about this new prospect, which if they were correct about it they would have succeeded in their  _ “Let's get these dorks together before they do something stupid.” _ plan. 

 

“Well...well you see...see Lance and-” Keith tried to stammer out an explanation for their situation but the words just didn’t seem to elaborate well enough on their own. He was blushing more than Hunk had ever seen and if a tomato was compared to Keith’s face it would be a certain match. Seeing that Keith wasn’t going to elaborate anymore Lance cut in. 

 

“We are dating...kida of, the momma and papa lion haven’t been told yet and so it's not completely official yet.” The Cuban boy was smiling widely the corners of his eyes crinkling out of joy. “But I’m sure they both be fine with it.”

 

“You really don’t have to ask them ‘permission’ to date me.” Keith was now glaring lightly at Lance, but before either could say anything else Pidge butted in. 

 

“Wait so that explains this morning”

 

“What happened this morning?” Hunk could see Lance’s eyes widen just a tiny bit and he smirked. 

 

“Well when I went wake Lance up for breakfast I didn’t knock and Lance had company.” Pidge was now also smirking and the blue and red paladins were both blushing furiously. Hunk meanwhile was holding in laughter. 

 

“Oh I wonder what momma and papa lion would say about that.” Coran said and the Korean and Cuban boy both paled as the rest of the team started laughing.  

**Author's Note:**

> Translation _~Mi tesoro no sabes cuánto me asustaste. Mírate todo tembloroso y llorando mi pobrecito amor no te preocupes yo no pienso nada diferente de ti mi estrella.~Roughly translates to My darling you don’t know how much you scared me. Look at you trembling all over and crying my poor love, don’t worry I don’t think any differently of you my star._


End file.
